manxie49

The Tracer 900GT is a really good bike, great engine with lots or torque, and very capable. The downsides I found for touring were, the OEM screen, buffeting and wind noise are horrendous. The seat gets uncomfortable after about 40 miles. I found the suspension wasn't really up to two up, fully loaded touring. The bike would always seem to run wide on fast bends, mainly due to rear suspension sag. If you're just looking at touring on your own, then sort out the minor niggles, and it really is a great all rounder. I did a review on the bike for a more in depth personal opinion.

I had exactly the same issue with the Schuberth. I had the chance of buying a nearly new one reasonably cheap. I got some opinions from this forum but ended up going to a dealer and trying a couple of them for size, just in case, and I'm glad I did. Whatever configuration / size I tried, it was just uncomfortable and wouldn't fit properly. I currently have the Neotec 2, and TBF it's probably one of the best helmets I've ever had. The dealer I went to, in fairness to him, said that I probably have a Shoei head .... wasn't sure how to take that! lol, but apparently Shoei fit longer heads, he said that Schuberth, in his experience, tend to fit Arai heads better (rounder heads) .... I live and learn.

I must admit my experience of IAM seems to differ somewhat from pbassred. My observer was a Police motorcyclist and he was 1st rate. I was never encouraged to push myself outside of my comfort zone, and as Steve_M said, everything he taught was related back to the Roadcraft manual. Every observed ride started with a discussion on what he wanted to cover and ended with a debrief, highlighting any observed weaknesses, and also giving positive feedback on the good points. I would say, in my experience, it was all aimed at riding safely, with a lot of emphasis placed on road positioning , forward vision and vehicle empathy. In fairness, having completed a couple of different course, they all seem to teach pretty much the same sort of stuff, but the one thing I would say that remains constant with all of them, is that they encourage you to make safe progress, but not to the extent where it becomes dangerous for you or other road users.

Sadly you're right. A lot of people go out and try to emulate the professionals, sadly, they tend to run out of talent pretty quickly on some of these roads, as your man last night nearly found out. I also love the GP, as you say, better mix of bikes and riders. Thus far, the week has been going well, and there's been some blistering times set during practice sessions. Forthcoming races should be really interesting, just hope the weather stays kind

Brown pants moment for this guy (see poor quality photos), not really sure how he didn't see two trams crossing in front of him till the last minute, but probably gave him a bit of a wake up. I felt sorry for him, really embarrassing thing to happen with hoards of other bikers looking on. I had a near miss myself yesterday on the bend in the photo below. Heading towards Ramsey on the coast road, bike coming in the opposite direction overcooked the corner and ended up on my side of the road. We both got a bit of fright to say the least. My missus won't go on the back anymore during TT now, we avoided a head on with literally a couple of inches to spare.

I have an INNOVV fitted to my bike which is pretty good if you want something you can fit and forget about. Other than that I would choose GoPro for Clarity of footage and ease of use. I used to use a Drift 4k, but the sound quality, unless you used an add on microphone, was crap. With the Drift, you can switch off front or rear built in mikes but it didn't make any difference.

Congratulations on passing your course. Must admit, I'd never heard of the enhanced rider scheme till you brought it up. The thing is, as with all training, as long as you learnt something, and took something away from it, then it wasn't time wasted. On a personal note, I disagree with your comment about IAM training being elitist. IAM, for a lot of people, tends to fit in better with their work and home commitments, as it did for me. There was no set day or time when I had to attend for training, and the instructor worked things around my schedule. Other courses I've done wouldn't / couldn't do this. So for me, IAM fitted in nicely with my shift work. Cheers.

I travel through Liverpool a lot, back and forth to the island. I don't normally stop at any cafes around that area, wouldn't want to leave my bike anywhere that I couldn't see it. I tend to stop off on the motorway before I get there. Enjoy the TT

Have a good day

All much of a muchness really, and all pretty much teach the same stuff. As long as the organisation is a recognised one, then all learning is good learning. I did IAM and more recently a slow riding / manoeuvring course. Former Police motorcyclist did that training, and in fairness I learnt more from that half day than I did from most other types of training. IMHO training should be geared to your needs / weaknesses, with an objective to improve on them, and a good instructor will do just that.

Only you can say if you did the right thing or not, but as you didn't end up in the ED or worse, I would say whatever you did was right for you at that time, given that set of circumstances. Me personally, I probably would have hit the brakes. Scrub off some speed and lessen the potential consequences of the impact. The GS you ride is also packed full of gizmos to help keep you shiny side up, so I wouldn't be too concerned about performing emergency stops. But what ever you did, things turned out well, and that's the main thing. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and I'm sure we've all done post mortems on accidents and near misses we've had in the past. I wouldn't let it play on your mind, just look at it as a learning experience.

I thinks it's all pretty much the same. We put adblue in the wife's car and the last time we bought some we got it from Halfords, I think it was a tenner or thereabout for about three litres. It all does the same thing.

Yes, I seen that one as well, brilliant, and very well narrated by Liam Neeson.

Something that may be of interest to those interested in Road racing . A new TT Documentary officially hits our screens tonight. ‘No Room for Error’ will be available to watch from 9pm on ITV4 and ITVX. It'll see legendary riders such as John McGuinness MBE, Peter Hickman and Michael Dunlop, who'll give a unique and unfiltered look into the life of a TT racer.

Fitted a Quad Lock phone holder, with vibration damper onto the bike. Easy job, and seems like a pretty robust bit of kit. Use my phone as a sat nav now when I go away.

Thanks Stu. I decided to buy one of those ES Eliminators, there not that expensive in the big scheme of things, and seem pretty easy to fit. May as well do the job properly, save a bit of money in the long run

Thanks Stu, yes this is on my Beamer. Its the 2nd time its gone tits up on me, pain in the proverbial. I'm going to have a look at the servo eliminator, however, I ran it yesterday and today with the flapper valve stuck open, without any issues can that I've come across. I've disconnected the wires that link to servo unit on top. I still have a warning light illuminated on the TFT, but if I got that cleared would it not just be OK to run it with flap valve stuck open? Or will the dash warning light just keep coming back on? Cheers

Just after a bit of advice. The Exhaust flap valve on my bike has stuck. I've took the silencer off and tried to free the valve, cleaned it out with WD40 and applied graphite grease, but it aint gonna budge. The valve has stuck in the open position. When I turn the ignition on I can see it trying it's best to move, and complete its self check, but its having none of it. If my understanding is right, can I just ignore it, disconnect it, and get someone with a code reader to just clear the fault code off, which has lit up on the TFT?? I believe the flap valve was designed purely to help lower emissions and lower RPM?? This is the second time its got stuck. I managed to free it last time and have maintained it with graphite powder and grease, it just doesn't want to play the game this time though. I attached a photo below, not of my bike though, just one I blagged so you know what I'm talking about, this however is the exact position that my flapper valve is currently in. Cheers.

Have a good one

I agree with what Yorky said ....... The stop line makes it confusing and seems to be a bit out of place, I can understand the need for give way at the junction, but why the stop line?? Is it potentially there for the safety of cyclists or pedestrians crossing?? Some roads are getting frustratingly more confusing to navigate, doesn't surprise me that's there's accidents at some of these junctions.

Like I said, my opinion is subjective and personal. Crash bars have saved my machine in the past from expensive damage, and that was following a low speed off on the ice, so I'm a fan of them. They're a marmite item though, you love em or hate em. The QS was usable but nowhere near as smooth as my old MT10 or Tracer. For the cost of the machine I'm sure they could have gone the extra mile in their R&D department to address that minor niggle. IMHO for touring the RT or GS is a better option, my mate even uses his GSA daily for the work commute. The RS is definitely a nice bike, not for me though.

You're like us, I travel light but my wife doesn't! Two up comfort was going to be something I was very critical about, it really isn't in the same league as the GS or RT. I really think that the sore point for me was going to be my wrists after a long ride. Nice bike though, just didn't quite tick all the boxes.

Subjective and personal opinion of this bike, formulated after taking it for a test ride on Friday. I didn't have it for that long and only covered around 70 miles. The weather was warm, dry and sunny, with light winds. Roads and traffic conditions ranged between urban and open countryside. A mix of both "A" and "B' roads. 2023 BMW R1250RS THE GOOD I’ve always been a fan of the Boxer engine so I may be a little biased here. The engine is solid, loads of torque with plenty of grunt. The shift cam technology is brilliant, and although being a big bike, it makes riding at slower speeds much easier. It’s a very manoeuvrable bike, due, IMHO, to its low centre of gravity. It actually felt more like a 600cc bike as oppose to a 1250. I would say that the bike is more tourer than sports, it certainly isn’t the sort of bike you could go scratching on. At 6’2” I didn’t feel cramped on the bike, and that was with stock seat and handlebars, and I felt that I could quite happily tour some distance on this machine in relative comfort. Wind noise, with the screen in its upper position was acceptable, there was no major buffeting, and if I dropped my head down an inch or so I found that I was pretty much in clean air. The electronics are comprehensive, and fairly intuitive, with the TFT screen being very clear and easy to read. I loved the electronic suspension, put it in auto mode and just forget about suspension settings, although that maybe just me being lazy …. Or rather not an expert when it comes to suspension. The quick shifter was efficient, but not as smooth as I’ve experienced on other bikes. I felt that everything on it was where is should be and was easy to use. The brakes are excellent, and there’s also a lot of BMW electrickery on this machine to help keep you shiny side up. THE BAD There isn’t a great deal that I could say is actually bad about this bike. If I was being critical, I would say that the riding position, for me anyway, put a lot of pressure on my wrists. This may become a comfort issue on longer rides or tours. I only had it for a 70mile test ride, so difficult to say. Wind noise with the screen in its lower, sports position, was on par with the Tracer, in other words not good. I would also argue the stated 50mpg fuel range. I personally don’t think I was getting anywhere near that, and I wasn’t pushing the bike. Engine protection bars are a must have, especially with those big cylinder heads sticking out, very prominently, either side of the bike. Drop the bike and it’s going to be expensive, and I don’t know why BMW don’t put these on as standard. I never took my wife for a run, but she did have a sit on the back. IMHO, for two up touring, it isn’t going to be ideal. We felt a little cramped on it and I think it would start to become uncomfortable after a while. I found the engine quite noisy / mechanical, but in fairness that always seems to have been a thing with the Boxer engine and doesn’t detract from its reliability. The seat is ok, but I think it would become uncomfortable on longer journeys. I was starting to get a numb backside after about 50 miles. Finally, I would say that the quick shifter could be improved. For a premium priced motorcycle, the QS isn’t as smooth as some cheaper bikes that I’ve ridden, it works, but that was all I could say. THE UGLY This again is subjective, but the first thing would have to be the price. The machine I test rode was over 17k, and that’s a big outlay. The second issue for me is luggage. BMW market it as a sports tourer, fit luggage carrying brackets to it, but don’t even give you a back box. These are all aftermarket accessories. If you go for the BMW luggage, you’re looking at the best part of 1.5k. I would also argue that engine protection bars are a necessity, not just a nice to have and should, IMHO, be installed as standard, not as an aftermarket accessory. If that bike goes over it’s easy to see what’s going to take the brunt of even a low-speed slide. CONCLUSION This is a very capable sports tourer, shaft driven as well, which in my opinion is always a bonus when touring. I would argue that this bike would be suited to all experience levels of rider. It’s very easy to ride and very forgiving. It would definitely be suited more to the touring range of its spec, but I feel it would also be a bike you could live comfortably with on a day-to-day basis, even commuting would be fine. It comes in different specs, all with different levels of refinement, but bear in mind, as with most things BMW, it will cost! Overall, lovely bike, relatively comfortable and smooth, good solid mechanics with the time proven Boxer engine. If looking for a sports tourer I would definitely add it to your list. Sadly, not for me, the PX value on my bike just didn’t cover the shortfall I’d be left with when bying the bike, and wanting to add things such as luggage ….. I need to win the lotto, or sell the wife! 